Rome continues to be a solid, tangible, and monumental expression of a legend. It is the eternal city where all roads of the ancient world converged, and has been the model for the very concept of a universal empire through the millennia. Through art, architecture, and urban planning, the empire expanded with an exceptional synthesis of technology, politics, law, and propaganda, conquering Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Near East.

Accompanied by masterpieces of architecture, sculpture and painting and the words of illustrious figures, Ancient Rome: Art, Architecture, and History follows the arc of the city and the civilization from its beginnings to its height and decline. Included are discussions of the emperor Augustus and the style we now call Augustan; the portraits and personalities of the Julio-Claudian dynasty; the ill-fated town of Pompeii and what its ruins have taught us about art and life in the Roman world; the architecture and planning of the metropolis, including the famous forums, arches, and baths, as well as the monumental architecture of the Colosseum; the art and architecture of the provinces of Europe and North Africa; and the fall of the Western Empire and the establishment of the Byzantine Empire as the heir of Rome.

Ada Gabucci is the editor of the magisterial study The Colosseum, also from Getty Publications.